If you’re planning a trip to Istanbul, don’t leave your airport transportation up to chance. When you book a shuttle ahead of time, you can skip the stress and start your vacation off right.
We provide safe and comfortable transfer from Sultanahmet to any location in Turkey. Istanbul Airports transfers provided by Istanbul Elite Transfer are unlike any typical Istanbul taxi or shuttle services. Using a taxi service, it is highly possible that you will find the taxi unclean, uncomfortable, unsafe and with expensive prices. Our operational philosophy is to provide safe and comfortable transfer without having any hidden costs. We do not charge any additional payment due to flight delay or traffic congestion. It is also diffucult and exhausting to get to any location by metro, by airport shuttles or by any other public transportations. Using our services will make your stay comfortable and will guarantee your piece of mind.
At IstanbulEliteTransfer, we offer a variety of flexible transportation options for Sultanahmet, so you can ride your way. If you need any ride in Istanbul you can count on, we can help.
We are ready to shuttle you to where you want to go. From Hotel to Airport, from Sea Port to Hotel. Book a valuable transportation service today.
About Sultanahmet
The Hippodrome of Constantinople (Greek: Ἱππόδρομος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, romanized: Hippódromos tēs Kōnstantinoupóleōs) was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı (Sultan Ahmet Square) in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with a few fragments of the original structure surviving.
The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos (ἵππος), horse, and dromos (δρόμος), path or way. For this reason, it is sometimes also called Atmeydanı („Horse Square“) in Turkish. Horse racing and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine era.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish: Sultan Ahmet Camii; also known as the Blue Mosque) is a historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It remains a functioning mosque, while also attracting large numbers of tourist visitors. It was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Its Külliye contains Ahmed’s tomb, a madrasah and a hospice. Hand-painted blue tiles adorn the mosque’s interior walls, and at night the mosque is bathed in blue as lights frame the mosque’s five main domes, six minarets and eight secondary domes.[2] It sits next to the Hagia Sophia, another popular tourist site.
After the Peace of Zsitvatorok and the crushing loss in the 1603–18 war with Persia, Sultan Ahmet I decided to build a large mosque in Istanbul to reassert Ottoman power. It would be the first imperial mosque for more than forty years. While his predecessors had paid for their mosques with the spoils of war, Ahmet I procured funds from the Treasury, because he had not gained remarkable victories. The construction was started in 1609 and not completed until 1617.[3]
It caused the anger of the ulama, the Muslim jurists. The mosque was built on the site of the palace of the Byzantine emperors, in front of the basilica Hagia Sophia (at that time, the primary imperial mosque in Istanbul) and the hippodrome, a site of significant symbolic meaning as it dominated the city skyline from the south. Big parts of the south shore of the mosque rest on the foundations, the vaults of the old Grand Palace.[4]
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque has five main domes, six minarets, and eight secondary domes. The design is the culmination of two centuries of Ottoman mosque development. It incorporates some Byzantine Christian elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect, Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa, synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendor. It has a forecourt and special area for ablution. In the middle it has a big fountain. On the upper side it has a big chain. The upper area is made up of 20000 ceramic tiles each having 60 tulip designs. In the lower area it has 200 stained glass windows.[5]